Blogs

TAGS:
quilting designs
+
Hand Sewing

Many people--me among them--admire Jane LaFazio's approach to quilt making . She has a way of combining hand stitching, machine stitching, surface design, mixed-media, and even machine needle felting to create beautiful and unusual pieces of fiber art. Jane is diligent about keeping a sketchbook...

Whenever I go to an art exhibit, a quilt show, Quilt Market, or a similar kind of event, I always keep an eye out for fashion. Not haute couture, but art couture--garments or accessories that reveal someone to be an artist or art enthusiast. At quilt and fiber-related gatherings, you often spot felted...

Where do you get your inspiration for art quilts ? Quilting artists get asked that question all the time. Most artists I know have keen powers of observation. They take in the patterns of bricks and grids in the city, the shapes and colors of the garden, and the unusual (to them) motifs and architecture...

Hello, and welcome to stop 4 on our week-long Ho-Ho-Holiday Gift Guide for Quilters! Today I'm sharing some of my favorite gift ideas to make for your friends and family, as well as gifts for quilters that would be welcome at your guild's holiday party swap--or under your own tree. To add to...

For a period of time, I made fabric and paper quilts using vintage maps. I stitched a collage of fabric to make the bird (and sometimes flowers, too), then stitched the bird (and flowers) onto the maps. Mixed-media stitched collage cards by Kristin Peterson, featured in the November/December 2014 issue...

I've often blogged about how hand embroidery projects are great for creating on-the-go. But even I was amazed when I saw new QATV host Susan Brubaker Knapp at Quilt Market wearing a denim jacket covered with hand embroidery designs. Susan Brubaker Knapp turned a thrift store jacket into art-on-the...

I was so happy to see so many hand embroidery designs at Quilt Market last month. I began learning hand sewing techniques as a young girl, and hand embroidery is still one of my favorite pastimes. But there are times when I get can get frustrated--like when a thread breaks or I can't find the floss...

Digital technology and the ubiquitous camera phone have made us all photographers. As fiber artists, the logical next step is to explore digital fabric printing. In our eBook Digital Quilting Designs: Free Digital Art Techniques for Collage and Quilt , three fiber artists show you how to use photo-editing...

Here it is, the second week of January, and I still haven't settled on my Word of the Year. You know, the mantra that you use to help you focus on what you want to accomplish before the next time the ball drops. Make Art Bag by Lynn Krawczyk, featured in the Feb/March 2014 issue of Quilting Arts...

You don't have to have scores of computerized embroidery stitches on your sewing machine to create beautiful machine embroidery designs. Just a few stitches and tutorials from free-motion embroidery experts will allow you to achieve the artistry you're looking for. In our free eBook including...

At our show-and-tell circle at the Quilting Arts-Stitch-Cloth Paper Scissors offices this week, Stitch Editor Amber Eden showed us a spread in a major fashion magazine that revealed quilting is a fashion trend. Free-motion machine embroidery by Bianca Mandity, featured in Cloth Paper Scissors Nov./Dec...

Fall has definitely arrived here in New England. Time to haul out the patchwork comforters, haul in the firewood, and make sure there are plenty of cocoa fixings in the cupboard. This Village Table Pocket patchwork project by Yoko Saito reminds me of my neighborhood. The woods behind our home are ablaze...

What's black and white and fun all over? One of Jamie Fingal's quilts. "A Slice of Old Town Charm" by Jamie Fingal. This fused piece has no traditional quilt binding, just stitching along the edge. Jamie considers herself a rebel quilter , saying "no" to batting, bindings...

Do you ever wonder where trends come from? How is it that all of a sudden it seems like everyone is quilting with a hexagon motif and then the next thing you know, color blocking is all the rage? One of the recent trends that seems to have come out of nowhere is the popularity of English paper piecing...

In my book, there are few fiber art projects that can't be improved with a little hand embroidery . Hand stitches add interest, texture, and the personal touch of the artist. Handwork can be used to create a focal point, move the eye around the piece, and emphasize lines, plus it's fun and relaxing...